This is a good story, and it's worth noting that Feynman reiterated the idea of building a repertoire of techniques or problems in several different ways. Here

This is a good story, and it's worth noting that Feynman reiterated the idea of building a repertoire of techniques or problems in several different ways. Here are two: The way to excel in physics, according to Feynman, was to have several unsolved problems in the back of your mind, waiting for new information to spark an insight. Feynman reports that fraternity kids at the university he attended would be taught slick answers to classic questions like "why does a mirror reverse left and right but not up and down" -- a kind of repertoire of responses that was part of their initiation. Creativity doesn't come out of nowhere, it's a cumulative thing.